The safety aspects of vehicles are excessively evaluated and vehicles are being equipped with increasingly advanced safety systems. Apart from electronic safety systems, the structure of the vehicle itself may also be particularly designed to behave in a predetermined way in case of an impact with a foreign object or a person.
Accordingly, the front structures of a vehicle are commonly designed such that in case of a so-called small overlap collision, the vehicle is intended to move sideways away from the imparting object. This may be accomplished by designing the front structure of the vehicle such that a lateral force is generated acting on the vehicle as a result of the impact. The benefit of this is that less energy is transferred to the vehicle main structure which thereby protects the occupants of the vehicle. For example, the acceleration forces on the occupants may be reduced by introducing a side-way movement of the vehicle in case of a small overlap collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,290,138 describes one example of a vehicle front section which is capable of generating such a lateral force in the event of a small overlap collision. The front section of U.S. Pat. No. 9,290,138 comprising a crash box attached to a bumper and a front side member. Attached on the outer side of the front side member there is a projection member intended to transfer collision load through the front side member to the power unit of the vehicle.
However, the front section of U.S. Pat. No. 9,290,138 may be subject to several improvements. For example, the transfer of the lateral force may be achieved in a more efficient way.